Proposals sought for Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme V＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

The Art Promotion Office (APO) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has just launched the fifth Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme (AIN) and is now inviting interested parties to submit, in groups or as individuals, their exhibition proposals.

The objectives of the "Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme" are to provide the public with an opportunity to appreciate a diversity of entertaining and creative visual art forms; and to build up a clientele for visual arts activities through bringing art exhibitions and educational activities to various communities.

The scheme was launched in 2001 and has come into its fifth series this year. Over the years, the APO has organised 85 touring exhibitions for 37 selected units and the number of visitors has exceeded 1.3 million. Other than launching exhibitions at LCSD exhibition venues, the APO has successfully built partnerships with other organisations such as the MTR Corporation, Hong Kong Arts Centre, The Link Management Ltd, Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency Ltd, Sino Group, as well as hospital, shops and bookstores. The aims are to bring outstanding visual arts into every corner of the community, to stimulate the interest of the public, and to raise their knowledge of, and ability to appreciate, different art media and forms of creativity.

Interested parties should send a completed application form, exhibition proposal along with educational activity proposal, artwork images or video and other related information on request to the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre at 7 A Kennedy Road, Central, Hong Kong, before July 26.

The judging panel will select proposals from the submissions based on criteria such as creativity and feasibility of the proposed exhibition, artistic merit and experience as well as the organisational ability of the artists in previous exhibitions.

Whether the educational activities proposed will enable communication between the artists and the public will also be taken into consideration.

Application forms are now available at the Visual Arts Centre, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the LCSD's city halls, town halls, civic centres, the Hong Kong Central Library, the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, and Youth Square. They can also be downloaded from the APO's website, www.lcsd.gov.hk/apo/ , or the AIN's website, www.artistneighbourhood.info .

For details, visit the APO's website or call the APO's Community Art Team at 3101 2712 or 3101 2713.